If you’re used to consulting your TikTok app for cooking tips, you may already know about #fetapasta. Yumna Jawad, aka @feelgoodfoodie, hyped it in her TikTok video with this astonishing claim: “Because of this recipe, the grocery stores in Finland ran out of feta cheese.”
I’m not convinced that statement would pass a fact check. But given that the video has earned more than a billion views, I trusted that the recipe must be worth trying. I can now confirm that Baked Feta Pasta Soup — which involves baking cherry tomatoes with a whole block of feta until soft and then mixing it into a pot of noodles and stock — is as creamy and delicious as promised.
Being very late to the TikTok party (I only joined today), I followed the instructions the old-school way: by opening a cookbook. It happened to be the first that caught my eye in “As Cooked on TikTok” (Potter, $19.99), a fun compilation of fan favorites and recipe exclusives from the platform’s most popular creators.
Superstar TV chef Gordon Ramsay and his social media influencer daughter Tilly wrote the foreword. But the real stars of these pages are the home chefs mostly known by their TikTok handles. Here you’ll learn how to use a squeeze bottle to form dots of batter for Pancake Cereal, make a freezer full of Pan-Fried Pork and Chive Dumplings, and whip egg whites and sugar for multi-color Cloud Bread that has “a satisfying squish, rip, and cotton candy-like bite.” Each recipe has a full-page photo of the dish as well as a QR code to scan with your phone if you wish to see the creator in action.
Aside from the recipes, you’ll also find #lifehacks such as no-more-tears onions, FYIs to dive deeper into techniques, and a chart of two-ingredient sensations including a mug cake made with milk and Oreos.
Should you aspire to create your own viral cooking video, the contributors share keys to success. ”Cook for yourself and what your mouth enjoys,” advises @moodyfoody, “and people will be inspired to follow your lead.”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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